DISTINGUISHING NETWORK CONNECTION REQUESTS

A network apparatus detects connection requests and extracts related data. The data is analyzed to determine whether the host is in an active state, whether the host matches a domain referrer and an amount of time from a last connection request. If it is detected that the host is not in an active state, the host is not matching the domain referrer and the amount of time from the last connection request exceeds a predetermined new session threshold, then a connection request is classified as a main request. If the amount of time from the last connection request is below a predetermined continuous session threshold, then any connection requests following the main request are classified as sub-requests. If the domain of host in the active state does not match current host for a sub-request, the sub-request is classified as a third-party request.